Brothers
by EllaWorm12
Summary: Thor has a nightmare, and wonders who to talk to. Mostly fluffy stuff!


*****I don't own any of the characters, that's all the work of the almighty Marvel! **

Thor gasps and growls, thrashing from the chair, tripping on the bottom rung, and crashing to the kitchen floor. He jumps up quickly, shaking badly. He blinks slowly, letting the kitchen of Avenger Tower come into focus and attempting to force the nightmare out of his mind.

He groans as his mind settles, comprehending the fact that he fell asleep at the kitchen counter. He was not on the Rainbow Bridge, watching his brother fall to his death. Loki was safe in Asgaard- not exactly comfortable or particularly happy, but safe all the same.

The gigantic son of Odin sighs and rubs his eyes. It had been a month since he had returned to Midgard, to Jane, to the Avengers. They had been thrilled to see him, and he them. He had missed the midnight pop-tart parties, and the movie nights. He had missed having comrades that didn't call him King.

He missed having a brother, too, but that was one thing that would most likely never change.

Thor sighed again, picking up the chair he had knocked over when he woke up violently. 'Loki is safe at home.' He reminded himself. 'You can go visit him when you return.'

'But it won't be the same.' Another part of his mind whines. 'He betrayed you, tortured you, tried to steal your kingdom, hurt the people and the land you love.'

'But he's my brother.' Thor argued with himself. 'He was my best friend. We fought together, we played together, we grew, we _lived_ together. We were together! He's my brother!'

'He left that behind. He's gone. Your brother Loki is gone.'

Thor growls in frustration. He can't escape his own rationalizations, as much as he hates them. He paces the kitchen, desperate for a distraction, anything to get the image of Loki falling- of Loki leaving- out of his head. Natasha and Clint would go to the gym, he thinks, but he doesn't want to go to the gym. Pulverizing a punching bag wouldn't help him here. Bruce and Tony would go to the lab, but Midgardian technology is so foreign to him. What about Jane? No, she's in Switzerland with Selvig for science. Steve?

Steve. Steve had lost his brother, too, Thor remembers. Steve had told the Avengers that his best friend, Bucky Barnes, had died while they were fighting Hydra in World War 2. He hadn't said how, or whether he himself had been with his friend when he died, but he had called Bucky his 'brother' and looked like he was about to cry when he thought of him.

Steve would understand.

Thor turns to the door and strides quickly to the stairs. He's too impatient for the elevator and that damned music right now. Steve's quarters are two floors above the main room, and it takes Thor no time at all to get there.

Pushing the door open, Thor is greeted by the sound of an orchestra record and the smell of wood and cinnamon. Steve is a strange man, he thinks idly. "Steven!" He calls loudly. "Steve!"

"What's up, Thor?" Captain America walks into his living room, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a strangely colored t-shirt. Thor guesses Natasha got it for him- she enjoys dressing them when she decides they look ridiculous (she was usually right).

"Steve, uh…" Thor realizes he has no idea how to approach this topic. Suddenly, it occurs to him that he wants to ask Steve to relive the pain of losing his brother, and he feels horribly inconsiderate. "I was, uh…I…"

Steve raises his eyebrows at his usually relaxed friend's nervousness. "You OK? Need to sit down?"

Thor fixes his eyes at the record player to Steve's right. "Fell asleep at the counter." He says quietly. "Had a dream- Loki falling off the Rainbow Bridge- I thought he was dead." He refuses to meet Steve's surprised gaze.

Steve is silent for a minute, caught off guard. He and Thor were friends, team mates, but they weren't really that close. He had never seen the big guy so vulnerable. He stands still for a moment, considering his options.

Steve turns and walks out of the room. It's Thor's turn to be surprised- it wasn't the reaction he had been expecting. But his friend returns a moment later, this time wearing sneakers and pulling on his usual leather jacket.

"Come on." Steve says firmly. "We're going on a walk."

And for the next three hours, that's all that they do. Thor and Steve wander New York City, no particular destination in mind, just walking through the crowds of people- people with their own paths. Together, the pair of them get lost among the thousands of people moving from one place to another, to their families, to their friends, to their jobs, to their lives. Surrounded on all sides by the gargantuan buildings, it is easy for the two men- almost always the largest in any situation, and therefore almost always noticeable- to feel small.

Thor tells his friend about his brother the good memories and the bad, and why he dreamt of him falling. Steve tells his friend about Bucky, their childhood, the times they fought together, and how Bucky had died. They don't speak much more than that, they simply understand each other.

The sky is dark by the time they return to Avenger Tower. They take the stairs up, reaching Thor's door first. Steve starts to continue to his own quarters, but stops. He turns back to his friend. "Hey- Thor?"

Thor turns to look up the stairway at him. "Hm?"

"If you…if you ever miss him-Loki-I'm always up for a walk." Steve finishes awkwardly.

Thor nods, understanding. "Thank you, Steve."

Steve nods, glad he understood, and disappears up the stairs.

Thor smiles to himself. Maybe he and Loki would never be the same, but they were still brothers. And maybe the bad memories would never go away, but maybe the good ones wouldn't either. Whichever way, he would have friends to share them with. Maybe even brothers.

*****Kind of a cheesy ending, sorry, I couldn't help it **** Please leave reviews, I'd love to hear feedback! I'm new at this, so I'd love to get better. Thanks for reading! **


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